1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to technology for managing use of digital content.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, various types of systems have been developed for protecting the rights of an owner of copyright and other rights for digital content such as an electronic document, audio data, and multimedia data (hereinafter referred simply as “content”). In one known example system, an acquisition record is kept when a user obtains content from a database on a network. Such an acquisition record serves to deter unauthorized use of content. Further, in another known system, ID information is previously embedded in content, and a user, when attempting to use the content existing in his/her terminal, transmits the ID information from the terminal to a management server on a network and the management server then uses the ID information for keeping a record of use of the content.